An agreement between Wyoming and Taiwan signed earlier this week should increase the amount of Wyoming beef and lamb sold overseas, according to Gov. Mark Gordon.
Gordon, speaking after the signing of the agreement with Taiwanese meat packers Monday, said the deal should expand Wyoming’s export markets.
“It’s important that we have that export market,” he said. “And it’s particularly exciting to me that lamb will now be part of what we’re doing with beef and we can show the excellence of Wyoming products just generally speaking.”
The signing ceremony was attended by parties to the agreement including the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, Mountain States Lamb Cooperative and Mountain States Rosen Co., a company with offices in Douglas that produces lamb and veal, and the Taiwan Meat Packers Association.
Ming-Sui Kao, of the Taiwan Meat Packers Association, said the quality of Wyoming’s beef and lamb convinced his association to enter into negotiations for the agreement.
Much of the meat to be sold to Taiwan is expected to be served in that country’s five-star restaurants.
Jim Magagna of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and Brad Boner of the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative both said Wyoming producers should have no problem meeting the demand of the Taiwan meat packers.
The agreement, reached after two years of negotiations, was part of some tough trade negotiations conducted by state officials in an effort to expand the market for Wyoming goods, said Doug Miyamoto, director of the state Department of Agriculture.
“That we can make and create these types of trade negotiations with foreign countries is good news for Wyoming’s producers,” he said.
